au revoir, paris!

this is definitely a place i could live...

it's so sad to have to go home!

the second happiest place on earth...

we couldn't visit paris without going to disneyland!it's pretty similar to disneyland at home, but just a touch different... would you believe that space mountain has a loop in it?

le tour de france

would you believe we were in paris just in time to see the final stage of le tour de france? perfect timing or what?!

what a city!

today we woke up bright and early, in order to do the whole "tourist" thing. we walked over to the louvre where we paid a little visit to miss mona lisa & several of her closest friends. then we had a picnic in the park, hit the ferris wheel, where we got this incredible view of the entire city! next stop was notre dame and it's beautiful windows, a river cruise on the river seine, and finally... quite possibly the BEST french onion soup i've ever had. quite a day!

paris, je t'aime

ahhh! the final leg of journey is here. last night we arrived in the grand city of paris. we had a late night supper at a sidewalk cafe (where of course i had some creme brulee), cruised the champs de elysees, checked out the arc de triumph, and then strolled the river seine & took in the eiffel tower at night... beautiful!

crete

as you can expect, crete is beautiful... imagine waking up to that view every morning. not bad! we've spent most of our days just lounging by the pool. although we did manage to visit the local village, take a boat tour of the island & pay a visit to the spa. every treatment in the spa uses olive oil, which makes your skin so incredibly soft! who knew that olive oil had so many possibilities?

9 months & counting!

owen is 9 months old today... wow! that's wild. suddenly he is so BIG. he is crawling everywhere. pulling himself up on everything, walking around the furniture. and yet, still no teeth! he is really a happy little kid, that is until gavin gets to him! although, they are starting to play together, which is definitely fun to watch. time is flying by... i can't wait to see what these next few months bring!

life's a beach!

we've spent the last couple of days hanging out at the beach. (too bad i finished harry potter, i could really use something to read.) the beaches here are incredible... we went to a "black beach." instead of sand, the shore is just tiny black pebbles. up and down the entire beach were hundreds of beach clubs. umbrellas & lounge chairs all lined up for you and restaurants with waiters standing nearby waiting to fill every request! i wish the beaches back home were like this!

we also took a boat tour around the island & the surrounding islands. we got the opportunity to see the beauty from an entirely different angle. we swam in hot springs & visited several of the other beaches. everything was so beautiful... from the ocean, the town of santorini looked like snow on top of the mountains!

yesterday we took a ferry over to crete... can't wait to explore the island!

i'll admit it, i'm a total nerd!

halfway around the world, in a totally foreign land, i've still managed to find myself an english copy of harry potter! hopefully i'll have time to finish it before we get home...

honk. honk. beep! beep!

jeffy & russy LOVE their scooters!

a day at the beach.

yesterday we hit the beaches. we started the day at akrotiri's red beach. it's incredible! you have to hike a little ways to get to the shore, but it's absolutely amazing. you are walking along, and then suddenly you just see these beautiful red lava cliffs emerging from the black sandy shore which leads you to clear blue water. wow! what a sight.

world famous...

the tiny town of oia is famous for its amazing sunsets and breath-taking views of the caldera & volcano. it truly was beautiful... very romantic, if you weren't surrounded by your two kids, a large extended family and about zillion strangers.

island life.

the greek islands are everything i've imagined it would be... i've seen the play mama mia so many times that i was well prepared. we've spent the last couple of days on the island of santorini, which some believe is part of the legendary lost city of atlantis! 3,500 years ago a volcano erupted here causing the entire center of the island to sink, what remains here today is a crescent shaped island. almost the entire island is built upon these incredible cliffs that overlook the ocean.

watch out greece, here we come!

we spent the day touring athens, hitting all the local hot spots... and i mean HOT! that's a shot of the acropolis.

tomorrow we are off to enjoy the islands!

it's kinda like visitiıng the flintstones!

today we toured cappadocia. we saw churches, schools, homes and places of business... all inside caves! we visited a local pottery shop where we watched, and participated in, the entire process from shaping the clay to drawing the design & painting it by hand. at a local rug shop we learned about the art of turkish rugs. they explained how they grow the silk and dyed the strands eventually weaving them into these incredibly beautiful rugs. and finally we saw what are called the "fairy chimneys"... these amazing rock formations. it is all so beautiful
& very different from anything i've ever seen before!

happy birthday jeffy!

happy happy birthday, it's your special day!



thanks for being my best friend, a great husband & a wonderful dad. you're the greatest!

cappadocia

today we left Istanbul & headed to the interior of turkey to a place called cappadocia, the “wild west of turkey.” it’s a rock wonderland… our hotel is carved into a mountain cliff, basically our room is a cave, seriously! our room that we are staying in actually dates back to the 5th & 6th century. (the pictures show the outside of the hotel & our room). there are all sorts of activities... everything from horse back riding to hot air ballooning. whatever we do, i'm sure it will be exciting!

evil eye

here is owen’s growing collection of evil eyes. i forget how much attention a little baby attracts in a foreign country. everywhere we go people stop and stare & go out of their way to touch him… it’s kind of crazy. shop keepers and store owners are constantly pinning these little “evil eyes” on O to protect him. Turkish people believe that with the evil eye amulet you will be protected and all the bad energy will be directed to the amulet and it will brake. The protection of the evil eye is used for anything new or likely to attract praise... with all the attention & praise O is attracting, it makes since why they keep pinning the amulets on him!

turkish bath

i don’t want to go into too much detail, because kerry did a great job explaining it. let’s just say, that although i’ve had two kids, I’m still very uncomfortable with the idea of being naked around other people… all I could think about the entire time was “I hope I remembered to shave my arm pits this morning.” still, it was an incredible experience & something i’ll probably never get the chance to try again, so i'm glad i gave it a go.

room with a view

all week i've been lucky enough to wake up to this beautiful sight of the shores of the Bosphorus.

my favorite flip flops

after spending the day in them and remembering how much i love them, i thought i'd share my favorite flip flops with you. they are the most comfortable pair of flip flops ever. they tend to be hard to find, so whenever i come across them i buy several pairs... seriously! i don't know what it is, but the foam they are made from are so soft and cushy. most recently i found them at urban outfitters, but their web site says they are all sold out. hope you find your own pair!

istanbul

istanbul is beautiful. we've been busy hitting all the hot spots: the hagia sophia, which was constructed as a basilica in the 6th century, the blue mosque which faces the hagia sophia, famous for its blue iznik tiles, and my personal favorite... the grand bazaar. with nearly 4000 shops selling antiques, jewelry, turkish carpets and leather... it's a shoppers paradise. i'm a sucker for all the little knick-knacks, i'm especially fond of all the pottery and pretty lanterns. as you can imagine, we are loving every minute!
pictures from left to right are as follows...
row one: outside the blue mosque, pottery inside the grand bazaar, shot of the blue mosque from outside the hagia sophia.
row two: gavin shopping for turkish rugs, me & O outisde the hagia sophia, inside the grand bazaar.
row three: mosaics from inside the hagia sophia, gavin outside blue mosque, me & O in front of the blue mosque.
row four: inside hagia sophia, lanterns inside grand bazaar, O making a wish inside hagia sophia.

refreshing.

here in turkey they call it "shepard's salad"... it consists simply of:

chopped tomatoes & cucumbers, basil, and just a bit of olive oil.

delicious!

it's almost thursday here.

lately i've felt like a bit of a drama queen. under normal circumstances our "thief" probably wouldn't have been such a big deal. but, these weren't "normal circumstances." our passports & luggage were stolen on monday, july 2. one week later, monday, july 9th, we were supposed to be boarding a plane headed to turkey, for the trip of a lifetime. that left us with just one week to get new passports, luggage, clothes, etc. kind of a daunting task. with everyone trying to get passports these days, that proved to be the biggest problem. but luckily, in the end, everything worked out. and this past monday morning me, jeff, the boys, my mom, sister, brother and cousin boarded a plane bound for frankfurt, germany where we got on another planed headed for istanbul, turkey. almost 24 hours later we arrived. now we are off on another whirlwind adventure! already we've visited the blue mosque & the grand bizarre - a shopping dream come true! hopefully i'll find my camera cord so i can upload some pictures!

more fabric scraps

i've been busy with another late night project... covering buttons! i've made everything from hair elastics, to thumb tacks & pacifier clips. i'm thinking some big earring could be fun too! talk about quick, easy, simple & cheap! i don't think there could be an easier project. many thanks to jessica & the girls at your heart out for the inspiration & instructions!

looking pretty...

so i guess i'm not the only one enjoying the blue mascara & new lip gloss (yep, that's lip gloss that gavin used as eye shadow). by the way... just wanted to let you all know that i'm enjoying the new mascara. not quite as 80's as i thought it would be. as with everything, there have been some "technological" advances... it only appears blue in the sunlight, but it sure looks pretty!

little scraps of fabric

lately i've been having trouble sleeping... the other night, i used some fabric scraps to make little O some booties. they are kinda silly, but they were quick and easy. i pretty much just made them up as i went along, but there are tons of patterns out there.... this pattern HERE is pretty similar to the ones i made.

80's flashback

it's official... i'm totally re-living the 80's. i own stretch pants, i've been seen sporting a slight side pony tail & i just bought blue mascara. yep, you read that correctly. benefit's new BADgal Blue is my most recent purchase. how could i resist? they promised it would make my eyes look whiter & brighter and my blue eyes look bluer!

i'm grateful...

1. to be home & sleeping in my own bed.
2. for two cute little boys & a darling husband.
3. for the kindness of strangers.
4. that canada let me come home.
5. that i don't have to unpack or wash any dirty clothes.
6. for my incredible family.
7. for good mail: belated birthday gifts, fun magazines & a sweet card from kristi.
8. that it wasn't my kids screaming the entire flight.
   
9. that i was able to pick up a few of my favoite candy bars... violet crumbles & mint aeros.
10. that tomorrow is a new day.
    

ever had "one of those days"? today was definitely one for me. to make a long story short... we spent a long weekend in seattle & canada. this afternoon we went out to the car to head to the airport, only to discover that someone had broken into our car and stolen our luggage. not only did they get away with all my pretty new clothes i had just gotten for my birthday, but also our passports, an iPod, a laptop & a whole slew of other important stuff. thankfully we were able to make our flight and that canada let us leave without any passports. i just have to keep reminding myself:

everything will be okay in the end.
if it's not okay, it's not the end.
(anonymous)